US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran girls’ school strike
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Images of the girls' small coffins, draped with Iranian flags, were shown on Iranian state TV.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - US military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Feb 28
Reuters was unable to determine more details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible or why the US might have struck the school.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on March 4 acknowledged the US military was investigating the incident.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, did not rule out the possibility that new evidence could emerge that absolves the US of responsibility and points to another responsible party in the incident.
Reuters could not determine how much longer the investigation would last or what evidence US investigators are seeking before the assessment can be completed.
The girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, was hit on Feb 28 during the first day of US and Israeli attacks on the country. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr Ali Bahreini, said the strike killed 150 students.
Reuters could not independently confirm the death toll.
According to archived copies of the school’s official website, the school is adjacent to a compound operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military force that reports to Iran’s supreme leader.
The Pentagon referred questions from Reuters to the US military’s Central Command, whose spokesperson, Captain Timothy Hawkins, said: “It would be inappropriate to comment given the incident is under investigation.”
The White House did not directly comment on the investigation, but press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Reuters: “While the Department of War is currently investigating this matter, the Iranian regime targets civilians and children, not the United States of America.”
Asked about the incident during a news briefing on March 4, Mr Hegseth said: “We’re investigating that. We, of course, never target civilian targets. But we’re taking a look and investigating that.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on March 2 that the United States would not deliberately target a school.
“The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them,” Mr Rubio said.
Satellite images suggest strikes from air
Israeli and US forces have until now divided their attacks in Iran both geographically and by target type, a senior Israeli official and a source with direct knowledge of the joint planning said. While Israel was striking missile launch sites in western Iran, the United States was attacking such targets, as well as naval ones, in the south.
Reuters shared satellite imagery and visuals of the aftermath of the Minab attack with Mr N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, a munitions research consultancy.
“Taken together, the satellite imagery and available videos suggest the school and adjacent IRGC compound were hit by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes with explosive munitions, most likely air-delivered types,” Mr Jenzen-Jones wrote in an e-mail.
He cautioned that it is difficult to be definitive about the type of munitions used in the ongoing conflict and said that, to determine responsibility, investigators would generally attempt to review munition remnants.
The UN human rights office, without saying who it believed was responsible for the strike on the school, called on March 3 for an investigation.
“The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing in Geneva.
Images of the girls' funeral on March 3 were shown on Iranian state television. Their small coffins were draped with Iranian flags and passed from a truck across a large crowd towards the grave site.
Deliberately attacking a school or hospital or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.
If a US role were to be confirmed, the strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East. REUTERS
